Chapter One: Don't Forget to Hum
by Matchel
Summary: (HumanStuckAU: Parings to come) Setting: St. Joseph's Mental Hospital, caregivers to the mentally unstable. Tera (Terezi Pyrope) awaits a doctor's visit for an annual exam. Her head has been spinning for awhile now from the smell she can only describe as nail polish. Seth (Sollux Captor), Dave, and John briefly mentioned.


Nail polish.

The stench filling the air vaguely reminded her of nail polish.

She simply laid there, waiting and hoping, hoping that the smell would go away. She knew it wasn't nailpolish, her nose is tricking her. Although, it does sport the color of what once was her sisters favorite shade of red. She knew that no one would go to that length to fix it so nail polish was dripping from the walls, onto her forehead which slowly ran down to her mouth. The feeling of it sliding across her check sent goosebumps up her arms and legs, they wouldn't go away.

Nail polish.

It was giving her a headache, while making her sick at the same time.

But it wasn't the smell that made her sick, it was the fact that it still lingered. Something was above her, and it was hurt badly. Her head was strapped down to the table and a device that was out of her peripheral vison stretched her eyelids open, forcing her to keep her focus up. It was blurry, that is to say the room was. She didn't understand where the mysterious substance was coming from or why it gave the smell of freshly applied nail polish instead of its usual copper scent, but she knew something was a miss when silence fell.

Before she could hear footsteps and the clanging of metal hitting metal, assuming they were instruments of some degree. But now, nothing. Only that piercing ring filled her ears, it was worrisome. Though she had been silently panicking, this made her anxiety grow to new levels. The doctors only wanted to do a check up, it was standard procedure. She had grown use to it, all patients had. But something wasn't right, the eye thing was new. Well, from what she remembered. She had trouble remembering things lately, as well as being able to make out reality from make-believe but that was how it was with everyone here. Besides the doctors, that is. They knew everything and were there to help. All they did was help. Those nice doctors, those kind doctors. She loved them so much.

Oh, here comes one now. She smiled to herself as she began humming the tune the patients and doctors had come up with for these exact scenarios, it was a method to help the patients stay calm during the exams. Sort of a: _I'm here with you, don't worry, we're on the same page, we know the same things. We even know the same song, see? _It was comforting. Silly, but comforting. They were all grown adults, some liked to think, so it seemed a bit childish yet it worked. There hasn't been an incident for weeks. If you don't count Seth's fifth mental breakdown of the month, which many of the orderlies don't. He was pretty unstable even when he was on his medication, it was going to happen and they are always prepared for it.

This doctor wasn't humming.

Tera began to squirm on the table, this was uncomfortable. Not the being on the table, but the fact that the doctor remained silent upon entering the room. The ringing was still there, too. Something wasn't right, she could feel it. It was like a pressure coming down on her face. More specifically, around her eyes. The device hooked up to her face was starting to bother her, or so she thought. What was once believed to be the machine slowly became a realization of the doctor tugging at, or maybe even, pushing on her eyes. She had no words to describe the feeling, it was new and her head was still spinning from what she's considering to be morphine so the pain was numb and dull. But she could feel the jerking and pulling and it was coming to be an annoyance. It was an annoyance and needed to stopped. Patients were allowed to voice their opinions on procedures even if they could barely speak, but Tera could use her voice unlike any other. She was loud and spoke out for most of her friends at the hospital when they were treated unjustly or needed to say something that could exactly be vocalized by them at that moment.

She was an inspiration to her friends, she lead them as a sort of leader, she was brave and smart...

She was crying.

The tears from her eyes cascaded down her face, only one thing was different. Her left eye was burning. The morphine did nothing, she felt this. It was a painful sensation that spread through her upper body. It wasn't long before she came to the conclusion that this wasn't her doctor. Maybe not even a doctor at all. This was a thief. And they had stolen her left eye. She commenced thrashing about, her arms struggled to break free from the straps that tied her down. She tried to scream but nothing came out.

_No._

She screamed and screamed with all her might but the only sound that filled her ears wasn't a sound at all. Silence. That's all that plagued her ears.

_This isn't real._

The thief obviously noticed the attempt to break free and tried their best to calm her down. It wasn't a friendly pat on the arm or a soothing forehead rub, it was a jab to the arm with some sort of needle. Filled with poison no doubt. The tears kept coming and the didn't stop, not even when the vemon started to corse through her veins. Her head buzzed with questions and thoughts of an attempt to escape.

_This doesn't happen in real life._

The serum was one that led to a painless death, the sting that had spread across her face faded away as she drifted off into what she imagined to be her last sleep. She didn't dream, she merely felt as if she was suspended in darkness, waiting for a bright light to take her away. Away from all her problems and fears, a light that would give her warmth and make her feel safe. It never came.

Instead, she was woken by a red light. It reminded her of the one in her room. Which then reminded her of the attendant, who would always have something red on him. The young man would constantly cling to a blue scrap of cloth given to him by his father. It was something he and another patient had come up with, to keep him from panicking during his visits to the doctors. Something they bonded over ever since the boy's last fit which was only 3 years ago. They like to think it's the colors keeping him sane, although, the word sane would never be used. It was banned in the hospital. Everyone here was perfectly fine, they just needed a little tending to that's all.

She woke up, not dead but not quite alive. She was tired and couldn't see where the light was shining from. Wait. She couldn't see period. She felt around her eyes only to be met by what she considered to be poorly placed bandages. It hurt, everything hurt and nothing changed besides her now sitting in a room which she assumes is her own. It smells like her room, so she thinks. The faint scent of old books drifts in the air, books she's allowed to have after being watch non-stop for 3 weeks straight. As to make sure she would commit no harm to herself, or others, upon receiving them. It was a strange idea to her, what harm could she do with a book? She shook her head in confusion, she often lost herself in a trail of thought that led far away from what was happening at that moment.

Her eyes where gone. Gapping holes where they had once been remained. That's what it felt like, she couldn't see herself let alone make her way to a mirror. The only thing she could trust now was her hearing that seemed to be coming back, the door creaked open and she turned her head around. Not realizing she was facing the wall. Heavy footsteps made their way to her bed but all of the sudden, she could see it. It was a creature with thousands of eyes, none of them belong to it. She made that conclusion when she saw her own at the top right of the monster's head. They blinked at her, as did the others but she paid no attention to them. It's long, black arms brushed across the floor as it swayed over to her. It was giant, it's back touching the ceiling and leaving a dark trail of dark slime from the door to where it now stood. For a moment, everything was silent. She could hear the breathing and she could see it. It poured out of every pore of the thing's body, much like smoke. The creature tilted it's head, that happened to be what seemed like it's whole body, and leaned in closer to her.

"Thank you." It stumbled around the room a moment just before turning its back to her. It's mouth was no where insight, it's as if the words simply appeared out of thin air. She vision became blurry once again and the second the creature vanished, so did her sight.

"_See _you again, Ms. Pyrope"


End file.
